Europe

Erika Stanciu is the President of EUROPARC - the umbrella organization for Europe’s protected areas - with more than 460 members from 36 countries. IUCN EURO met with Erika to learn about the results of the recent EUROPARC annual conference and her thoughts on the link between biodiversity and protected areas. …

Story featured in the Made in Countdown 2010 publication: The NatureGate® R&D together with the University of Helsinki created the NatureGate® Online Service, which can be used to identify species easily and rapidly, just by making observations of the specimen and clicking provided options accordingly. NatureGate® is designed to facilitate lifelong learning of sustainable use of biodiversity. …

Story featured in the Made in Countdown 2010 publication: Natureparif was the first agency which exclusively dealt with biodiversity conservation at the regional level to join Countdown 2010. The agency is part of the Ecoregion project launched by the Regional Council of Ile-de-France. It gathers local governments, nature associations, enterprises, researchers, the State and the Regional Council, and fosters dialogue between them in order to integrate biodiversity into public and private sectors. …

Story featured in the Made in Countdown 2010 publication: Natural England aims to safeguard biodiversity by protecting the best wildlife sites, promoting the recovery of declining species and habitats, embedding biodiversity into all policy and decision-making, enthusing people, developing the evidence base, and working with others to deliver the agency’s goals. …

Just before the start of the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (18 -29 October) in Japan, last week an important signal was sent to the world: we need to act for nature! …

For the first time ever, a comprehensive analysis of the state of biodiversity in 67 countries has been prepared and published by IUCN and the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF) as a tribute to the International Year of Biodiversity. …

Story featured in the Made in Countdown 2010 publication: Nagoya joined Countdown 2010 and engaged the city in initiatives to strengthen cooperation among departments and enhance public awareness of biodiversity. In March 2010, the city launched the “2050 Nagoya Strategy for Biodiversity”, an important document whose drafting started in 2008. This strategy will serve as a long-term policy for transforming Nagoya into a sustainable city which coexists in harmony with nature. It presents a vision for the year 2050 and four sub-strategies based on the conservation and restoration of nature, and lifestyle change. …

Europe is still far from meeting its 2010 target and we risk missing future targets unless we change the way we are managing our environment. The European Environment Agency’s new biodiversity report based on SEBI 2010 indicators assesses the state of biodiversity in Europe and makes recommendations for improving policy effectiveness. IUCN's European Union Representative Office contributed to the writing of this report and provided coordinating support. …